Chapter 167

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Translated by Pratt

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The Awakened hurriedly jumped down from the vehicles and looked toward the direction where the dust cloud was rising.

“What the hell?”

“Where did these demonic beasts suddenly come from…”

“Was there a demonic beast habitat around here?”

Bewildered voices burst out from all around. This was only about four hours from the magic stone mine. Since the magic stone mine periodically carried out demonic beast extermination, there were no large-scale demonic beast herds in this area. Naturally, the Awakened had let their guard down to some extent. And yet now an enormous dust cloud was rising. A dust cloud like that could never be caused by only a small number of demonic beasts. It was a phenomenon that only occurred when a large demonic beast herd was on the move. Lee Ji-ryeong shouted, “All of you, prepare for battle.”

“Prepare for battle!”

The Pegasus Raid Force drew their weapons and prepared for battle. Cha Jin-cheol issued an order with a crooked smile.

“It’s just a herd of demonic beasts. We wipe them out in a single breath and that’s it. Everyone, to the front line.”

“Yes, sir!”

With that response, the West District Awakened stepped out into the front row.

Levin spoke with a puzzled expression.

“Didn’t most of the West District Awakened replace their bodies with machinery? No matter how I look at it, those guys just look like ordinary people.”

As he said, the West District Awakened standing in the front row did not look all that different from ordinary Awakened.

Mandy explained to Levin, “That’s true for D-rank and below. Even some C-rank Awakened deliberately expose their mechanized parts. But they can never stay active in the desert for long.”

“Because of the sand?”

“That’s right. Desert sand is fatal to mechanized Awakened. So they mostly operate only inside Neo Seoul. That’s the West District’s limit as well.”

“Then those guys?”

“They’re all C-rank or higher. Their mechanized parts have been covered with artificial skin so they can operate in the desert. They’re weaker than fully mechanized Awakened, but in exchange they can stay active in the desert for much longer.”

That was the reason the West District Awakened participating in the Pegasus Raid Force maintained appearances little different from ordinary humans.

Even so, they were strong.

Their overwhelming physical bodies, incomparable to those of ordinary Awakened, were their advantage.

That was why they had come forward into the first line.

Thud thud thud thud!

As the demonic beasts approached, powerful tremors could be felt beneath everyone’s feet.

Between the thick dust clouds, the silhouettes of the demonic beasts became visible.

“That is?”

“What the hell? Two heads?”

The Awakened standing at the front stared in shock at the silhouettes.

Kuwaaa!

At that instant, the demonic beasts burst through the dust and revealed themselves.

They were buffaloes.

Enormous buffaloes with two heads and four horns.

Their bodies shone as if clad in iron armor, and their four legs were as huge and solid as pillars.

The moment he saw what they were, Zeon muttered, “Twin Head Buffaloes.”

“Those are buffaloes? No way.”

Brielle muttered with an appalled expression.

The buffaloes’ shoulder height alone exceeded three meters.

They had enough size and mass to crush an ordinary human in an instant.

The problem was that there were not one or two of them.

Hundreds, thousands of them were surging toward the Pegasus Raid Force like a tidal wave.

Boooom!

“Kyaaa!”

“Urgh!”

Groans burst from the mouths of the West District Awakened who had taken up the front.

There was no way they could endure the impact of not one or two, but hundreds of creatures slamming into them all at once.

Crunch!

Bones in arms and legs snapped, and waists bent backward under the impact of Twin Head Buffalo horns.

A few Awakened seemed to hold out for a moment, but were instantly swept away by the charge of the Twin Head Buffaloes.

This was the terror of demonic beasts that lived in herds like the Twin Head Buffaloes.

With only a small number of Awakened, it was impossible to stop their charge.

The only possible method was to unleash bombardment before they plowed through the Awakened and weaken them.

“Damn it! Attack already.”

“Launch a full attack.”

The Pegasus Raid Force and mercenaries waiting behind the West District Awakened unleashed their skills all at once.

Boom boom boom boom!

An enormous barrage poured onto the Twin Head Buffalo herd.

Mwooo!

Mweee!

The Twin Head Buffaloes collapsed in heaps.

But compared to the herd as a whole, it was only a tiny portion.

The survivors charged straight into the middle of the Pegasus Raid Force with terrifying momentum.

“The nerve!”

At that moment, Lee Ji-ryeong and the elites stepped forward.

Crackle!

Lightning flashed all over Lee Ji-ryeong’s body.

Dozens of Twin Head Buffaloes struck by the lightning he discharged were charred black and fell over.

Bronson’s assault team took down the Twin Head Buffaloes one by one.

But there were an unbelievable number of Twin Head Buffaloes, and still far too many remained.

Bam! Bam!

The heavy vehicles were shoved backward or crushed by the massed assault of the Twin Head Buffaloes.

“This won’t do.”

In the end, unable to stand it any longer, Levin leaped into the battlefield.

Purple lightning rained down on the Twin Head Buffaloes.

Mwooo!

With mournful cries, Twin Head Buffaloes collapsed.

The other Twin Head Buffaloes trampled over the corpses and surged onward.

Sand billowed into the air, and the people’s screams and the howls of the Twin Head Buffaloes mixed together, turning the battlefield into something out of hell.

Mandy’s other personality, Eloy, emerged to protect Mandy.

“You buffalo bastards.”

She swung Mad Gumiho and charged into the battlefield.

Zeon climbed onto the roof of a tall transport vehicle, bringing Brielle with him.

That was because, unlike Mandy or Levin, Brielle had almost no combat ability.

But being on a transport vehicle was not exactly safe either.

Bam! Bam!

The Twin Head Buffaloes crashed into it again and again, crushing the vehicle and shoving it backward.

Brielle, startled, asked Zeon, “This is insane. Do they normally move around in numbers like this?”

“I’ve seen herds of several hundred several times before, but a herd of several thousand like this is a first even for me.”

Still frowning, Zeon watched the Twin Head Buffaloes rampaging below.

Twin Head Buffaloes were herbivorous demonic beasts, but by nature they were gentle.

As long as they were not hungry, they did not launch attacks first.

Also, once a herd grew past a certain size, a new leader would appear and the herd would split off independently.

That limit was around three to four hundred.

But the number of Twin Head Buffaloes now assaulting the Pegasus Raid Force was clearly over several thousand.

It was as if at least ten different herds had gathered into one.

That was something absolutely impossible according to the biology of Twin Head Buffaloes.

‘When something impossible happens, there is always a cause.’

That was why Zeon had not yet entered the battlefield.

Zeon swept his sharp gaze around.

The sand was billowing and obstructing vision, but to Zeon that meant nothing.

The hazy sand particles were conveying information to him.

As he scanned the surroundings, Zeon’s eyes suddenly turned toward the sky.

At once, living beings circling through the air entered his sight.

Screee!

They were letting out cries utterly inaudible to human ears.

Each time they cried, the Twin Head Buffaloes ran wild and stampeded.

Zeon said to Brielle, “You can stay by yourself, right?”

“Of course. Don’t worry about me. I can protect myself.”

“Then I’ll be back.”

In the next instant, a sandstorm swept up Zeon’s body.

His figure shot a hundred meters into the sky in an instant, yet not a single Awakened on the battlefield noticed.

Zeon rose to a height of a hundred meters.

Only then did the creatures circling the sky become clear.

Their heads resembled eagles, and their massive bodies were like those of lions.

A pair of wings sprouted from their backs.

Zeon recognized them at once.

“Griffins.”

Griffins were B-rank demonic beasts.

Their official rank was B-rank, but their danger level was A-rank.

They were true rulers of the sky, comparable to wyverns.

Only then did it make sense why the Twin Head Buffalo herds had gathered.

The griffins were a natural enemy of the Twin Head Buffaloes.

These creatures were clearly panicking and driving the Twin Head Buffalo herd with their cries.

Like sheepdogs herding sheep, the griffins had gathered the Twin Head Buffalo herds together with their cries and driven them into the Pegasus Raid Force.

Screee!

The griffins discovered Zeon and let out threatening cries.

The sky was their territory.

They never let invaders trespass in it unchallenged.

Abandoning their herding of the Twin Head Buffaloes, the griffins attacked Zeon.

Shaaak!

They flew at him at speeds close to supersonic.

To the griffins, Zeon floating defenseless in the air looked like easy prey.

But their bodies quickly taught them how great a mistake that was.

“Sand Blaster.”

At Zeon’s gesture, highly compressed sand shot out.

Budududud!

The Sand Blaster mercilessly pounded the griffins’ heavy torsos.

Thanks to the force fields wrapped around their bodies, they did not suffer major injuries, but it was enough to shock them.

The griffins tried to change direction and pull away from Zeon.

But Zeon had no intention of letting them.

“Claymore.”

Pababababang!

The sand particles floating around the griffins exploded.

Claymore savagely shredded the griffins’ force fields and wings.

Kieee!

A female griffin, having lost its wings, screamed and plummeted.

At that, the male griffin went after the female to save it.

But the speed at which the male descended was far slower than the speed at which the female fell.

Boom!

In the end, the female griffin crashed headfirst into the ground.

If her force field had still been intact, she might have survived the fall.

But Zeon had stripped it away.

The female griffin’s body could not endure the impact without the force field.

The female’s body was crushed terribly.

Even so, her breathing had not stopped.

The male griffin landed beside the fallen female and cried out mournfully.

Griffins chose only one mate for life.

Once paired, they lived together forever.

Their attachment to their mates was deeper than that of any other demonic beast.

That was why the male had lost all reason and descended to the ground over the female’s injury.

And that decision hastened the male griffin’s death.

“Sand Mixer.”

At Zeon’s voice, sand engulfed the griffins.

Gaaah!

Before the male griffin could escape, the sand spun at terrifying speed.

Like the inside of a mixer, the spinning sand ground away the male griffin’s force field.

Only then did the male griffin try to beat its wings and break free, but it was useless.

The high-speed fine sand particles instantly abraded away the male griffin’s steel-like body.

Kieee!

The griffins’ desperate screams rang out from inside the sand.

But the sand spinning at high speed swallowed even those screams whole.

That was the griffins’ end.